No. 66: Funny in Jamestown, craft beer and a really amazing iPhone 5

August 3, 2015

SPEAKING OF BEER: Craft beer production climbed to 12.2M barrels in the first half of 2015, a jump of 16%, according to the Boulder-based Brewers Association trade group. That’s not as strong as the 18% growth posted in the same period last year, but let’s not quibble: Production has more than doubled since 2011.

“Industry growth is occurring in all regions and stemming from a mix of sources including various retail settings and a variety of unique brewery business models,” Bart Watson, the association’s chief economist, noted in announcing the industry report. (That’s right, little brewers have a chief economist.)

As of June 30, 3,739 craft breweries were operating in the United States, a jump of 699 over 2014. There were another 1,755 in the planning stages. Forty of the total are on Long island, with 12 more being planned, according to Innovate beverage meister Jim McCune.

Related: Whole Foods is inching into the craft beer business with breweries in Texas and California stores and, we are to guess, many more to come.

One reason: slumping margins in the organic foods sector from competition by specialty outlets and grocery chains getting back to wholesome.

Also: Jim Koch, founder of the company that makes Sam Adams beer, told a Senate panel he will likely sell the firm to a foreign owner when the time comes, Bloomberg reported. “Because of our broken corporate tax system, I can honestly predict that I will likely be the last American owner of Boston Beer Co.,” he warned.

MONDAY, MONDAY: A good start to the week everybody and a special welcome to new readers, including Joe and Joey, the two Hogans, Victor, Jake, Donna and David and Eileen. Glad to have you aboard. Remember: We’re always on the hunt for story ideas, trends, promotions, criticisms and corrections via editor@innovateli.com.

HOPES, UP IN SMOKE: The state awarded medical marijuana licenses to five companies on Friday, ending a months-long competition that snubbed the six Long Island firms that had applied, including North Shore-LIJ.

The Island will get two dispensaries, however, including one planned for Riverhead that will be operated by a Rochester-based winner of one of the licenses. A Queens firm will run a similar pharmacy in Nassau.

Only marginally related: The latest prix-fixe pop-up dinners in San Francisco offer up to four courses of gourmet food, a selection of beer and wine and a carefully curated selection of marijuana to have between courses. (In my day, we got Cheetos.)

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LIVE FROM TEL AVIV: Behalf, an Israeli startup that provides online financing for small business, has closed on a $119M financing round and is moving its headquarters to the Flatiron District.

ALEXANDER DOES GREAT: Hamilton, the hip-hop Broadway musical on the life of the man about to be expunged from the $10 bill, officially opens Thursday, but it’s been playing to SRO preview houses at an average $140 per seat, topped only by The Lion King ($177) and Book of Mormon ($172).

By comparison: Best seats at the 1943 production of Oklahoma! were $9.60.

However: That’s $132 in 2015 money.

UBER AND UBER: Uber raised an additional $1B last week to fund its expansion in India, the WSJ reported. The firm is growing 40 percent per month.

HUMOR US: Jamestown has officially broken ground on the National Comedy Center, a $45M facility that aims to celebrate the history of the craft and its contributors, including Jamestown native Lucille Ball.

On hand: Melissa Rivers, Regis Philbin and Jerry Seinfeld.

What’s up with this: NY taxpayers kicked in $1.5M to get the first shovel in the ground.

You can now reserve a June smart oven for Spring 2016 delivery for $95. Among other things, the device recognizes uncooked foods and sets temps and cooking times for you, then sends pics or videos of the cooking to Instagram. The balance of the oven’s sticker price – $1,400 – is due upon delivery.

MC Squares sells a white board system of smaller panels that can be snapped on and off a mother frame, allowing for small-group collaboration. But $49 per section.

Swiss watch makers TAG Heuer and Frederique Constant are making a move on the smartwatch market. One competitor – besides Apple, of course – is San Fran’s tiny Olio Devices, which is trying to straddle functionality and style.

About 10 percent of the planet is outside the Internet’s reach and, therefore, unable to “like” anything on Facebook. That clearly has been driving Mark Zuckerberg crazy. So coming soon: Solar-powered FB drones that will beam connectivity from altitudes of as much as 90K feet.

FINALLY: A Texas oil executive’s iPhone 5S, sucked out of a plane at 9,300 feet when a door popped opened, was recovered in operating condition from a rural field using the iCloud tracking app. The battery compartment cover remains missing, however.

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